Uruguay Trade

The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay meet today in the Paraguayan capital to sign a treaty for the creation of South America's first common market. According to the draft treaty, import duties on products traded among the four countries will be reduced progressively starting in July. Brazil and Argentina are to eliminate tariffs on intra-market trade by 1995, with Uruguay and Paraguay to follow in 1996.

What once seemed like ivory tower daydreaming is now reality in the making: Huge trade blocs are forming up and down the Americas to let goods and services pass freely across international borders. Not only is there a NAFTA--the North American Free Trade Agreement, stretching from the Yukon to the Yucatan. There is also a SAFTA--a South American free-trade area that extends from Amazonia to Patagonia.

What once seemed like ivory tower daydreaming is now reality in the making: Huge trade blocs are forming up and down the Americas to let goods and services pass freely across international borders. Not only is there a NAFTA--the North American Free Trade Agreement, stretching from the Yukon to the Yucatan. There is also a SAFTA--a South American free-trade area that extends from Amazonia to Patagonia.

South American Nations to Discuss Tariffs: The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will meet in Colonia, Uruguay, on Jan. 17 to discuss a common external tariff for Mercosur, their planned common market, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle said. Lacalle said he hopes the meeting will narrow differences between Argentina and Brazil on how an external tariff should work and on whether it should apply to all third countries and all goods from the start.

South American Nations to Discuss Tariffs: The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will meet in Colonia, Uruguay, on Jan. 17 to discuss a common external tariff for Mercosur, their planned common market, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle said. Lacalle said he hopes the meeting will narrow differences between Argentina and Brazil on how an external tariff should work and on whether it should apply to all third countries and all goods from the start.

Arthur Dunkel, director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, began a last-ditch attempt today to salvage the stalled Uruguay Round trade talks. Dunkel scheduled meetings with Peter Field, Australia's deputy minister for foreign trade and a Japanese delegation to try to "find some platform" for relaunching the talks, GATT officials said. The negotiations on a new world trade order broke down in December over agricultural subsidies and have since remained deadlocked.

Time is too short for a "fully settled" package covering global trading rules to be agreed upon by this December's deadline in the troubled Uruguay Round trade liberalization talks, the head of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade said today. Arthur Dunkel, GATT's director general, blamed both a lack of new instructions from governments to their trade negotiators and "hide-and-seek" tactics for the meager progress made in outstanding Uruguay Round issues.

Japanese import tariff reduction offers at the Uruguay Round trade liberalization talks Friday fell far short of a U.S. proposal to completely abolish duties on a wide range of products. Japan said its tariff-cutting proposal covered some 6,800 mining and industrial products and "meets the objective of one-third reductions agreed as the target of the Uruguay Round." Japan did say, however, that the offer could be amended depending on how the talks proceed.

GATT Director General Arthur Dunkel has called a meeting of Uruguay Round trade negotiators for Jan. 15, his spokesman said today. The four-year round to liberalize global commerce, which was to have been concluded earlier this month at a ministerial meeting in Brussels, was instead suspended to allow more time for differences to be resolved. But there was no indication yet that positions had moved sufficiently, especially on the key area of farm subsidies.

The presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay meet today in the Paraguayan capital to sign a treaty for the creation of South America's first common market. According to the draft treaty, import duties on products traded among the four countries will be reduced progressively starting in July. Brazil and Argentina are to eliminate tariffs on intra-market trade by 1995, with Uruguay and Paraguay to follow in 1996.